Berra, climbing the outside of the Temple of Maran Gor, is somewhere between crying with frustration and crying with rage as she pulls herself up, so rests are not restful, but movement is full of anger. Probably Session 20.
. o ( Oh. The torches. They got moved. So that the shadows would give me away, or just for the cauterisation? )
. o ( So slow to think. )
…
. o ( He wasn’t guarding anything. )
. o ( There wasn’t a centre. )
. o ( Or it wasn’t there. )
. o ( He was just trying to be Yanafil Tarnils. )
. o ( But why didn’t he challenge me? )
. o ( Was it not the right time yet? )
. o ( Did he want me to go the other way? )
. o ( To send his army home? )
. o ( He doesn’t make me a war god just by acclaiming me. )
. o ( Ugh. Dust on that ledge. No grip. Back to the left. Jump that bit there… )
. o ( Eyes are blurry. )
. o ( It’s only the dust doing that. )
. o ( ONLY THE DUST )
<snf>
“Shut up, Berra. No snivelling.”
<sigh>
“Back to the climb.”
. o ( If he’s at the top, that’s good. )
. o ( It’s spending his time while I try to think more. )
. o ( He probably doesn’t trust many people with handling me. )
. o ( And he knows I would fight the guards here. They’re not of his cult so it’s good if they kill me. )
. o ( Bad if I die, but good to be out of the plot they had, and leave a hole in it. )
. o ( Not the next thing to do, though. )
. o ( But I don’t know what to do next. )
. o ( Yet. )
. o ( Because he wasn’t defending a centre. )
. o ( That I could find. )
. o ( He… was he trying to make me go that way? )
. o ( He seemed smug. )
. o ( But he did before as well. )
. o ( Maybe I can throw him by telling him he was wrong about things. )
. o ( But he’ll probably just learn and get better. )
. o ( He doesn’t know what Rebel means. Not like I do. )
<wipes eyes>
. o ( But he wanted me to be the rebel when I was attacking him. )
. o ( To make me Yanafil Tarnils again. )
. o ( Probably. )
. o ( But where the hell do you get a Walktapus like that? )
. o ( And why? )
. o ( Chaotic things to attack Orlanth. )
. o ( Or to make peace with if they took the Lunar path. )
. o ( So there have to be more. I could find them. )
<climbs a while>
<pats mountain> “Hey, Maran Gor? You know they brought Chaos inside you? I’ll be there if you want to fight them.”
“But that might squash me. So if you want to fight them on your own, do that too. But call me and I’ll try to help.”
Berra keeps climbing, for the moment…
… and looks out for any hawks she can see as she goes.
. o ( Up high now. )
. o ( Hands hurt. )
. o ( Shouldn’t bleed on the mountain. )
. o ( It’d be rude. )
. o ( Or make her hungry. )
. o ( Wow. Sun. Glad I’m a long way up. It’s hot here. )
<basks briefly in a sunbeam>
. o ( Am I doing what they want right now? )
. o ( It probably doesn’t matter. )
. o ( Because I can find a new way. )
. o ( But what am I doing? )
. o ( Aspiring to Yelm? )
. o ( Rebelling? )
. o ( Sunlight is good for intellect and thinking. )
. o ( And nobody can get to me here. )
. o ( And I could do with resting my hands. )
. o ( So what does Jar-eel want? )
. o ( And what’s the best way I can stop her? )
. o ( She says she wants to stop the Bat. Or wants it stopped. Or says it’s terrible. )
. o ( But she didn’t say this would do it. )
. o ( Onjur just held out a bone to Varanis. )
. o ( Does she really want the Emperor back? Does he? )
. o ( Could she stop the Bat? Probably. )
. o ( Could she change the Emperor? I don’t know. Maybe. )
. o ( Maybe there’s something special about this one. )
. o ( Or maybe about the one on the throne, that she can’t stop. )
. o ( Anything else? )
. o ( The Lightbringers’ Quest still works for her. )
. o ( Because she’s going with that. )
. o ( And it brings a person back. )
. o ( Definitely will if she wants to, if she’s playing one of the gods in it. )
. o ( And the others don’t seem to care about trying to stop her. )
. o ( So they’ll just find Yelm, like they expect. )
. o ( What will she find? )
. o ( What else is there? That she can’t get to? )
. o ( She’s not trying to be Orlanth. )
. o ( But she could be, easily. )
. o ( She could knock out Varanis, and step in there. )
. o ( And take secrets of the Air. )
. o ( Or make a pact with this Emperor. )
. o ( Or take any of Yelm’s things. )
. o ( Even if she doesn’t betray us, she’s going to have the Emperor. )
. o ( And secrets of Lhankor Mhy. )
. o ( And anyone else she decides to be. )
. o ( Can she be me? )
. o ( Not Humakt. Me. )
. o ( No. But she could be Humakt if she had to. )
. o ( And Onjur will be if she decides he needs to. )
. o ( Or one of his people. To lose to him later. )
. o ( But that won’t be me. )
. o ( Stop crying, Berra. You couldn’t have stopped Varanis. )
. o ( So try to stop this instead. )
. o ( What allies? Few. )
. o ( And they don’t mind me climbing here, or they can’t stop me. )
. o ( Or the Temple hasn’t told Onjur where I got to. )
. o ( I was foolish, looking for the centre of the ritual. )
. o ( The best way to find that would be to be captured, and appeal to Humakt. )
. o ( When I’m there. That gives me the best chance. )
. o ( How can I get them to take me in? )
. o ( How can I find the middle? )
. o ( Climb down and look for the path to the rooms we were in. )
. o ( It’s as close as I’ll get. )
. o ( Cause enough damage that they have to deal with me. )
. o ( Stir up the Goddess here. )
. o ( Signal to the Grazelanders to attack. )
. o ( Signal to the Grazelanders who is here, and let them make up their own minds. )
. o ( They’ll be watching. )
. o ( But I can’t see any hawks. )
. o ( Not above me, anyhow. )
. o ( And they’ll be on the other side of this mountain. )
. o ( And it’s big. )
. o ( Kill a lot of people. )
. o ( Make sure I die outside the Heroquest. )
. o ( Make sure I die inside the Heroquest, but wrong. )
. o ( She could keep ME moving, but not Dormal too. )
. o ( Alright. I think that’s it for ideas. )
. o ( So far. )
. o ( Next, get up. See if there are guards. )
. o ( And… probably… )
. o ( Fight them. If they kill me, maybe she won’t be able to stop that. )
. o ( And we’ll see which orders they are under. )
. o ( And if the Wyter will strike me down. )
. o ( That must be helping her. )
. o ( So yeah… That’s a way to strike too. )
. o ( Hands moving properly again now? Good. Let’s go. )
. o ( I could surrender to the Earth Cult. )
. o ( Depends what they want. )
. o ( Why does Jar-eel need me? )
. o ( The judgement and release. )
. o ( So she’ll either make sure I don’t stop her… )
. o ( Or use someone else. )
. o ( Oooh. I can swear not to. )
. o ( Make the oath. With someone. Dormal might? The others won’t. )
. o ( They could all have stopped this. )
. o ( By having this hanging over us. )
. o ( … Are they cowards? )
. o ( No. Just not warriors. )
. o ( So I need to find a warrior. )
. o ( Someone not afraid. )
. o ( And persuade them. )
. o ( Prisoners. There will be people here with nothing to lose. )
. o ( So… I don’t want to be one, but it’s an idea. )
. o ( And that’s what I want to find, then. )
And at the top, a standing stone. That’s… interesting, and not at all what was expected. Berra bows her head to it and looks around, as she expects more as well – the ring-shaped mountain shape should be there. But she is now looking tired without looking emotionally exhausted. To anyone who knows her, she looks dangerous.
